Projects of the Regional Culture Program NRW

NRW Slam 2025 in Wittgenstein

Applicants: WortWechsel GbR, Jessica Fraas and Tobias Beitzel, Siegen

Project and cooperation partners: City of Bad Laasphe, municipality of Erndtebrück, Club of Old Hands (Blind Association), City of Bad Berleburg, Wingeshausen Rifle Club, Banfe Cultural and Local History Association, Siegen Writing Room, Bad Berleburg City Youth Welfare Office, Bad Berleburg Youth Support Association, Bad Berleburg City Library, almost all Wittgenstein schools.

In 2025, the North Rhine-Westphalia State Poetry Slam Championships, or NRW Slam 2025 for short, will take place in Bad Berleburg, Bad Laasphe, and Erndtebrück. This will be the first intercommunal project in rural areas. Furthermore, for the first time in history, the NRW Slam will not only be a festival, but a year-round project. Furthermore, the NRW Slam 2025 will be the first barrier-free state championship in history: people with physical and sensory disabilities can participate in the championship both as visitors and actively as performers.

To the WortWechsel website

First Inclusive Theatre Festival South Westphalia - "PeriFair"

Applicant: Integrative Cultural Workshop Alte Schule Lüdenscheid in the Johanneswerk residential association Märkischer Kreis, Evangelical Johanneswerk GgmbH

Cooperation partners: Bruchwerk Theater Siegen, Parktheater Iserlohn

The first Inclusive Theatre Festival of South Westphalia, "PeriFair," will take place over four days in 2026 at the Lüdenscheid Cultural Center and the public space in the Rosengarten. The plan is to present five inclusive theatre performances at the Cultural Center and four inclusive outdoor performances in the areas of theatre and dance. Four workshops on inclusive cultural work, theatre, and dance will also be offered. All participants will have the opportunity to present themselves at an information booth. Preparatory activities will take place in 2025. Interested parties should contact: Thomas Wewers, Integrative Kulturwerkstatt Alte Schule, email: thomas.wewers@kulturarbeit.com

To the website of the Kulturwerkstatt

Play along, participate, decide together

Applicant: Parktheater Iserlohn

Cooperation partners: Integrative Cultural Workshop Alte Schule eV, Theater Halber Apfel eV, Advisory Board for Inclusion Iserlohn, Friends of Parktheater Iserlohn, Parktheater Iserlohn

The Parktheater Iserlohn, together with regional partners, is creating a performing arts network to open a temporary theater stage in an empty shop in Iserlohn's city center. The goal is to bring theater directly to the public and promote cultural participation. A special focus is placed on inclusion and transculturality. The project is aimed at people with a migration background, people with disabilities, and amateur theater groups in the Märkischer Kreis. Joint rehearsals and performances will also promote targeted networking between amateur theater groups and inclusive target groups.

To the Parktheater website

Stage for South Westphalia

Applicant: Bruchwerk Theater gUG, Siegen

Cooperation partners: Apollo Theater, Cultural Office of the Siegen-Wittgenstein District, Lüdenscheid Cultural Center, Integrative Cultural Workshop Alte Schule Lüdenscheid, stage partnerships also: Gebrüder Busch District Dahlbruch / Hilchenbach, Plettenberg KulTour, Haus des Gastes Bad Laasphe, City of Freudenberg, City of Haiger

The Stage for South Westphalia aims to ensure the relevance of theater as an essential place for encounters and discourse. The Bruchwerk Theater, as a professional theater company, will tour the region in 2025 with its production "Summer Night." In cooperation with the Apollo Theater, the production is being developed specifically for the needs of South Westphalia. To this end, the six partner cities will gather experiences on changing audience behavior. Artistic working methods and marketing strategies will be developed jointly. At the same time, barriers to entry will be reduced by preparing performance visits for project school classes and offering discourse formats for the performance.

To the Bruchwerk Theater website

Reading Pleasure - Children's and Young Adult Book Festival South Westphalia

Applicant: Pelmke Cultural Center eV Hagen for the project partners: AllerWeltHaus Hagen; Pelmke Cultural Center with Babylon Hagen Cinema, Hagen City Library, Hagen-Haspe District Library, Hohenlimburg District Library, Iserlohn Park Theater, Lüdenscheid City Library, Plettenberg City Library, Halver City Library, Halver Cultural Station, Kierspe City Library, Meinerzhagen City Library.

With approximately 70 events centered around writing, reading, and discovery, the LeseLust festival offers children and young people in-depth experiences with art, literature, and other cultures, as well as personal encounters with authors. Along with Käpt'n Book, Leselust is now one of the largest children's and young adult book festivals in Germany and is organized by a network of organizers from seven cities in the region. The heart of the festival is readings by renowned as well as talented young authors. The program is framed by film adaptations of literary works, poetry slam workshops, children's theater, creative workshops, and children's concerts, among other events.

To the LeseLust website

FERROMONE - Summer, Sun, SASE

Applicant: SASE gGmbH

Cooperation partners: Hemer Art Association, Iserlohn Youth Art School, Phänomenta Lüdenscheid and Luisenhütte in Balve.

As part of the FERROMONE industrial culture event series, SASE is hosting its "Summer-Sun-Sun" cultural festival in Iserlohn. The artistic interventions focus on resources and resource conservation. Artists from the Hemer Art Association create and present art from recycled materials and resources. In addition, children and young people will create upcycled art in several workshops under the expert guidance of the Iserlohn Youth Art School. The entire framework of the cultural festival is focused on the topic of resource waste and overconsumption. The artworks will later also be on display at the Luisenhütte in Balve.

To the SASE website

To the FERROMONE Festival website

FERROMONE - Luise heats things up!

Applicant: Märkischer Kreis

Cooperation partners: Festival association “Ferromone”, individual cooperations with other Ferromone partners.

As part of the FERROMONE industrial culture event series, the "Luise heizt ein" festival revives the Luisenhütte in Balve-Wocklum as a historic site of industrial heritage with art and culture. The annually changing theme always relates to the location, its economic use, or social structures. Particular emphasis is placed on the four elements, technological advances, or historical events, always with a focus on the unique characteristics of the Luisenhütte. In 2025 and 2026, the focus will be on sustainable resource use. The 2025 theme, "Underground," alludes to the exploitation of mineral resources for the production processes at the Luisenhütte.

To the Luisenhütte website

To the FERROMONE Festival website

International Music and Theatre Festival KulturPur at the Giller (Hilchenbach) 2025 and 2026

Applicant: Siegen-Wittgenstein District

Project and cooperation partners: Cities of Siegen, Kreuztal and Hilchenbach, IG-Metall Siegen, Gebrüder-Busch-Kreis, 1st Support Club for Cabaret and Variety, Youth Art School of the Siegen-Wittgenstein District, South Westphalia Philharmonic, BlueBox Siegen, RockFreaks eV, Mobile Music Meeting eV/Rockmobil, Invema eV, Tourism Association of the Siegen-Wittgenstein District eV and others.

With approximately 60,000 visitors annually, the international music and theater festival on the Giller near Hilchenbach has developed over the past decades into a unique flagship project that extends beyond the region and has established itself as a cultural focal point for the local community. Funding from the Regional Culture Program NRW (Regional Cultural Program NRW) allows regional stakeholders to be involved in the festival's program design, allowing them to use the festival as a platform and help shape it themselves. Inspirational and innovative forms of presentation in the fields of classical music and the performing arts, as well as subculture and pop culture, are also supported. Furthermore, the free, culturally high-quality family-oriented outdoor program is made possible, as is a special program for children and young people. Inclusive and sustainable approaches will also be further expanded.

To the KulturPur website

Cultural bridge between Hagen and Lüdenscheid

A cooperative project between Grüne Brücke Hagen e. V., the Sustainable Living Lüdenscheid Association, and other cultural workers and associations from the cities of Hagen and Lüdenscheid, who want to build a cultural bridge between the two cities.

Project period: 2024

Theater on Truck on Tour

New Stage Lennestadt

Approximately 20 events will provide a space for culture for the regional cultural scene from the Sauerland region (and beyond) in the Grevenbrück (Lennestadt) district. Project period: 2022 to 2024, project sponsor: Lennestadt-Grevenbrück district.

Through regular cultural get-togethers and other exchange formats such as the Culture Market, as well as via a digital platform, the independent cultural scene in the Olpe district will be qualified, networked, and made visible. Project period: 2023 to 2024, Project sponsor: MuT Sauerland e.V.

Pur am Giller Culture Festival

KulturPur – the international dance and theater festival at Giller near Hilchenbach (Siegen-Wittgenstein). This tent city in the heart of nature offers a top-class cultural program every year.

Project period: every year,

Project sponsor: Siegen-Wittgenstein district.

Bruchwerk Theater - Workshop

city.country.text NRW

The Junges Theater Siegen e. V. offers young people the opportunity to try out theater with Spielfarben:NEON. Project sponsor: Junges Theater Siegen e. V., Project period: 2020 to 2025,

Project sponsor: Young Theater Siegen.

The Passagen art festival at Gut Rödinghausen in Menden is a partner of the FERROMONE industrial culture festival association. Every year, the region's industrial sites are revitalized.

Project period: 2019 to 2023,

Project sponsor: City of Menden.

Luise heizt ein is a partner of the industrial culture festival association FERROMONE. Every year, the Luisenhütte in Balve-Wocklum is skillfully heated. Project duration: since 2016, project sponsor: Märkischer Kreis.

Every two years, the Urban Art Festival Siegen brings together street artists from the region to explore a new theme in the city of Siegen and its surroundings. Project duration: 2020 and 2022; project sponsor: City of Siegen.

The South Westphalia Iron Route is a cultural tourism route run by WasserEisenLand and connects the Siegerland region with the Brandenburg economic area. Project period: 2011 to 2015, Project sponsor: WasserEisenLand e. V.

Artists from the region have installed art and literature objects along the approximately 6.5 km long KulturFleckenWeg in Freudenberg. Project period: 2020, Project sponsor: KulturFlecken Silberstern e. V.

The Südwestfalen Philharmonic Orchestra brings together professional and amateur musicians from South Westphalia in its South Westphalia Music Workshop. Project duration: 2017/18 and 2021/22 and 2022. Project sponsor: Südwestfalen Philharmonic Orchestra.